cafeterianoun [ C ]
uk/ˌkæf.əˈtɪə.ri.ə/us/ˌkæf.əˈtɪr.i.ə/A2 a restaurant (often in a factory, a college, or an office building) where people collect food and drink from a serving area and take it to a table themselves after paying for it
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Restaurants & cafes
- all-you-can-eat
- automat
- bill of fare
- bistro
- brasserie
- buffet
- coffee shop
- diner
- drive-through
- eatery
- fast food restaurant
- grill
- internet café
- mess
- roadhouse
- rotisserie
- salad bar
- send
- send out for sth
- à la carte
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Examples from literature
- They built a kitchen, a cafeteria, and toilets.
- By this time, somebody was bringing in a coffee urn from the cafeteria.
- She got her lunch at a cafeteria and there was a rest room.
- Then call the cafeteria and have them send up three dinners.
- There were tea-rooms, cafeterias, Hungarian cafés, chop suey restaurants.
- You're bonkers, Alan said, using the word that the lunch lady back at school had used when chastising them for tearing around the cafeteria.